An exam board and publisher have apologised for an approved GCSE textbook that contains a clearly racist image.

The cartoon image that depicts black people as cannibals appears in an AQA approved Psychology for GCSE textbook published three years ago.

Illuminate Publishing has said it is withdrawing the book from sale and replacing the image.

It came to light after a mother posted it on social media when her concerned 15-year-old son brought it home.

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The AQA has said that is has improved its approval process since 2017 and has asked the publisher to review their other textbooks.

Lizzie Jordan, who runs a social enterprise in Lincolnshire, said: “My son brought it home and showed me. It is clearly a racist image and it gets worse the more you look at it.

“I think what is most shocking is the number of hands that the textbook will have been through in order to get to my son’s desk.

“I was horrified. My son is mixed race and representation is so important, so powerful and so vital and for him to see an image like that - it is despicable.”

The image is accompanied by text which says “three missionaries and three cannibals are trying to cross a river, however at no time can there be more cannibals than missionaires on either bank or in the boat. How can they do this?”

In a statement Illuminate Publishing said: “We apologise unreservedly for inclusion of the image and have withdrawn the book from sale.

“We are replacing the image and example and are disposing of existing stock. We are deeply sorry for any offence caused and are reflecting on this moment to ensure we learn from this

An AQA spokesperson said: “We have zero tolerance of racism, so this cartoon should never have made it through our process for approving textbooks. There are no excuses, and we’re sorry.

“Quite simply, when we looked at this textbook in 2017, our approval process wasn’t good enough - but we’ve improved it since then and we do things differently now.

“We contacted the publisher as soon as we heard about this cartoon, and we’re pleased they’re working very quickly to put this right. We’ve also asked them to review their other textbooks.”